Day 2 – By JB “Papa” Brostrom, MWAi
What!! Paco was the first to rise and begin the txt to wake routine. Gordito and Slaw would be the last to appear as they may have donated to the Reservation before bedding down last night.
It was a glorious morning to ride. We were wheels rolling at 7:30. Clear skies and temps north of 70. As we headed south east on US 70 we came up over a ridge.
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I was reminded of why we’re doing this and as God is my witness the next song on the radio was Rachel Platten’s Fight Song. I am sure all you survivors and survivor family/friends will know the significance of that moment of divinity.
We truly rode eventless for 140 miles before our first fuel stop. Nature and unnatural were all on our side this morning. Papa did notice a bit of a hesitation from his Screaming Sparrow quite randomly. Perhaps a bad tank of gas. Gordito scoffs as there is no such thing as bad gas anymore… Really?! We fueled up and took a quick break. Slaw chatted with another rider who rode from Phoenix to South Carolina to join a friend and ride back to Phoenix. Now he was riding with his friend back to South Carolina only to turn around and ride back to Phoenix and go back to work. Our kind or rider. Making a visit with a buddy into two cross country round trips!!
Next stop is the Harley Davidson dealership in Las Cruces. This sort 120 miles was not eventless. We literally had to dodge three dust devils the size of a 10 story building. The first two were highly visible and came from the south and timed us perfectly as it crossed I 10. There has been some discussion on whether the best way to handle this is to slow down and let it pass or speed up and outrun it. Perhaps a single biker would have a chance of outrunning the crossing tornado. With a line of 4 stretching back a quarter mile Papa thought is best to slow down. The third little devil was not so visible and we rode right through it. Gordito made a carnival maneuver to turn into it at a 45 degree angle to stay up right. (perhaps something less than 45 but go with it.) We did get a nice facial sandblasting. Tonight we have baby smooth cheeks.
We soon rode into the dealership. Papa decided to have his steed checked out as tomorrow we ride 600 miles in no-where Texas. Two hours later we were able to get by with some software updates to the bike… software updates to a Harley… let that sink in for a while. We are baaaaaad men!
Slaw continued to spend money on his ride replacing a few dinged components from our departure incident. There was nary a Sig in any of his components!
We left Las Cruces again on US 70 and headed East up and over the mountain. As we headed down I occurred to me that Gordito requested we visit the NASA facility, aka the White Sands Military Base. Gordito was waved to the front to lead the Patriots Pack off the road and into the base. One look at our bunch coupled with a visitor’s museum being closed and we were politely invited to perform a U-Turn. We did so respectfully but then abruptly stopped at Gordito’s behest. It was photo op time with the White Sands gate in the background. We were quickly invited to stop with the photo taking of a secure military installation. We went on our way… abruptly.
It occurred to us that we were not 180 miles from the previous fuel stop, which made a gas station our highest priority. We arrived at the Chevron on the outskirts of Alamogordo with our reserve monitor reading LOW. We fueled, hydrated, waited for Slaw to evacuate his bladder AGAIN, and headed up the mountain to Cloudcroft. 17 miles and 4,500 feet in elevation. It’s a very cool climb… pun fully intended.
Check in was easy accept for the flights of stairs at 9,000 feet. This is where we need to encourage Gordito to a testosterone-fueled footrace!
We all retired to our rooms to clean up for dinner. I came down and found Gordito and Slaw in the lobby playing chess… This is not a metaphor… they were playing chess. We are baaaad men!
Paco and Papa found the bar. Actually and factually it is Al Capone’s bar. The hotel purchased the bar from an IRS auction after the demise of Mr. Capone… bullet holes and all. Dinner was a mix of ribeye steak, flaming cherries, and relationship counseling. Come on… Grey Goose, good steak, flaming cherries, and four worldly men; what better atmosphere for relationship counseling.
We left the restaurant, gave Paco his hard candy supply and retired to our rooms. We will see if in the morning Paco’s hard candy has been consumed by Rebecca. As you will recall, Rebecca is the friendly, if not promiscuous, ghost from the 1800’s, who inhabits this hotel and continues to service her guests. Last year Paco’s hard candy was missing in the morning…